Soldiers Share Lessons Learned In Vietnam War Vets Hope Mistakes Will Help Others

April 02, 1993|by THOMAS KUPPER, The Morning Call

Some old soldiers who've been to battle got together last night to tell some new soldiers about the mistakes of the past.

It was the first educational program sponsored by the Lehigh Valley's Korea/Vietnam Memorial National Education Center, and the theme was "A Soldier's Perspective on the Vietnam War."

Many of the 100 or so people in the audience at Lehigh University wore ROTC uniforms, and the center's president, Randall Biggs, said educating people of their generation and younger is what the center will be all about.

"There are lessons that can be learned for all future generations so we can improve on what we've done in the past," Biggs said.

A panel made up of a retired U.S. Army general, a Korean general who serves as an attache in Washington and a former Soviet soldier who serves in the Russian embassy fielded questions about how to avoid wars, and how to prepare if they can't be avoided.

"With time passing we tend to forget the tragedies we had in the past and their lessons," Maj. Gen. Han Kwang Duk of the South Korean Army said.

Duk was a boy during the Korean War, but he volunteered to serve in Vietnam along with many Koreans. "We wanted to pay (the Americans) back by helping Vietnam."

He said the success of Korean soldiers depended on high morale and a sense that defending Vietnam was tantamount to defending Korea. "It requires understanding their culture and history," he added.

"The Korean soldiers learned the Vietnamese language and tried to become close with their people."

Retired U.S. Maj. Gen. Hardin L. Olson Jr. said the lesson of Vietnam for soldiers was the same as for any war: "You're not going to have a great time, but it's not the end of the world," he said.

"These wars should serve as an example of what we should not do in the future," Olson said, stressing that because he is retired his comments reflected his own opinion, not government policy.

But he said Vietnam had some benefits, including contributing to the end of the Cold War and the success of the Persian Gulf War.

"I think that the victory that we all share in the Cold War is the culmination of people banding together and drawing a line to not let aggression go any farther," Olson said. "Certainly Vietnam played a part in showing that there was a resolve."

Olson graduated from West Point in 1957 and served in the Army for 34 years. He won 38 decorations including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

The third speaker, Andrey V. Tsybenko, did not see combat when he served in the Soviet Army from 1979 to 1981, but he said the Russians' experience in Afghanistan was similar to the Americans' in Vietnam.